Fit only for cows: A subject that PTAs should talk about
Certainly my five year-old granddaughter has never heard of women’s health advocate Dr Ntiamoah Mensah, but I’m sure he’ll be gratified to know that the two of them are kindred souls where personal hygiene is concerned. Her concerns about the school toilet feature regularly in her daily and voluntary ‘what-happened-in-school-today’ reports at home.
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This kindergarten pupil’s main concern is that usually there is “wee-wee” on the floor; and at times the WC has been left unflushed. Also, sometimes there are cockroaches, flies and ants there, evidently making visits there a negative experience for her, and no doubt for other pupils too. Not surprisingly, she is very reluctant to use the facility. However, her mother has informed the school, so hopefully they will supervise the cleaners better.
A week ago, Dr Ntiamoah Mensah wrote a very enlightening article in this paper on the state of school toilets and their implications on health. Clearly the subject is one that should be of interest to parents with school-going children and hence parent teacher associations (PTAs).
For, as Dr Mensah’s observations suggest, it is seemingly one subject that the PTAs shy away from, otherwise the picture he paints wouldn’t be so disturbing. PTAs may be very vociferous on other school matters, but apparently the horrible condition of school toilets is not on their agenda.
Anyway, as most toilets and even urinals in public places in Ghana are simply awful, it is no surprise to learn that those in schools are no better.
Generally, in Accra, apart from the big hotels, among the few exceptions I have come across, I mean toilet facilities which one can enter without dread or even nausea, include those at the International Conference Centre, the State House Banquet Hall, as well as the ladies’ room at the Press Centre.
Regrettably, even the public toilets in the big hospitals don’t come up to scratch and one wonders if the hospital administrators ever inspect them.
What Dr Ntiamoah Mensah wrote in The Mirror of February 21, about school toilets was quite a revelation. In summary, he said that not only is it punishment to subject children to such nauseating experiences, unhygienic school toilets also pose a great threat to health.
Under the dramatic and blunt headline, ‘Nasty toilets in boarding houses is simply cruel’ and ‘Headmistresses, headmasters and parents must sit up!’ he wrote:
“Surprisingly, a survey conducted revealed horrible toilet facilities in highly acclaimed schools in the cities, especially Greater Accra.
“Personally, I have observed and seen many young girls in boarding houses getting recurrent urinary tract infections and vaginal infection because of poor toilet facilities.
“I have come across girls who cry bitterly when school re-opens. For example, (unknown to her mother) a young girl will not go to school (a top class girls school in the Eastern region) because she dreads (having to use) the toilet of the school. She said she grows lean when she goes to school. This is because she doesn’t eat anything for the fear of (having to use) the washroom.”
Furthermore, he wrote: “A young lady said she slipped from the WC because she had to squat on it. She ended up hitting her vulva on the edge of the WC which made her sustain a very serious vulva and pelvic injury.
“I have interviewed many girls including some very near to me who don’t drink water and dread to drink because if (their) bladders dare get full...
“An exchange student once asked whether the washrooms were for cows because you have to walk through dirty used papers, urine flooded floors and (a badly smelling) room before sitting on a messed up WC. This is Bitter, Painful, Cruel, Wicked, inhuman and irresponsible (sic) especially when the girls are in their menses.”
Dr Mensah offers suggestions on the way forward. Among other things, he recommends that parents should pay a token to help in employing cleaning companies, cleaners or toilet attendants.
In his view, the country should embark on a “Toilet Revolution” in our schools “and save our young girls from: urinary tract infections, kidney infections, pelvis infections and possible infertility”. Another solution is that “the Ministry of Education transfers, fires or retires all tired headmistresses and headmasters who can’t manage (their) schools.”
In his opinion, “a good toilet facility is as important as a good science lab”.
Many parents try to teach wards the importance of hygiene and yet when they go to school, which is supposed to build on that teaching, they have to use toilets like those “for cows”, as the disgusted foreigner quoted by Dr Mensah so vividly put it?
Perhaps personal hygiene is no more taught in schools, because responsible toilet use, leaving it clean for the next user, should be part of that training.
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However, as I pointed out in this column on September 28, 2013 (in the article, Time to mention the ‘unmentionable’!), “... this is a country where in some places even schools are built without toilets. (Yet), studies have shown that in schools without washrooms, every month some girls stay away from classes for four or even five days when they’re in their period because if they go to school there will be nowhere for them to change or clean themselves.”
In that article, I posed the question: whose responsibility is it to see to it that all public places not only have toilets, but clean ones?
I also proposed that:
•We should consider declaring a ‘Ghana Toilet Day’.
•The Government should announce concrete plans towards making the issue of toilets a mandatory item on every District or Metropolitan Assembly’s list of priorities during the 2013 observance of World Toilet Day on November 19.
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•Every house should be compelled to have at least one toilet
•Public venues and transport terminuses should have decent toilets for patrons – which should be regularly inspected.
•A ‘Toilets Task Force’ should be formed involving all the stakeholders.
Maybe I should add that there has been no reaction from any quarter to my article.
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But I wonder if the Ministry of Tourism has any plans regarding this crucial matter. This country is always touting its tourist attractions, hoping to attract more and more tourists, but what tourist in their right mind will choose to visit a country that pays scant attention to toilets? Even if the facilities in their hotels are fine, what about when the tourists visit places, as they are encouraged to do?
Surely, getting school heads, people in leadership positions and work place bosses to ensure that their establishments have decent toilets is not rocket science, or something beyond Ghanaian capability.
In conclusion, my sincere apologies to readers for inflicting these unpleasant matters on you, but they needed saying because we need to talk about this national disgrace.
Even five-year-olds know that this is a challenge that Ghana needs to confront and solve – and do it immediately.
And thank you, Dr Ntiamoah Mensah.